Lamb's Agent: 'I Feel Good About Jeremy'

Things are going well for Cheshire native Jeff Schwartz lately.

The successful basketball agent recently joined forces with fellow superagents Casey Close (baseball) and Mark Steinberg (golf), adding clients like Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Anika Sorenstam and Mark Teixeira to Excel Sports Management’s already impressive list.

Schwartz, who already represents Jim Calhoun, Kemba Walker, Emeka Okafor and A.J. Price, also added another member of the UConn family to his cliental in the form of Jeremy Lamb.

Lamb is expected to be a lottery pick at the NBA draft a week from tonight in Newark, though his status is a bit up in the air due to a sprained ankle injury he suffered five minutes into a workout last Wednesday in Toronto. It’s not a serious injury (an MRI checked out fine), but it’s been enough to keep him out of any workouts since.

Lamb, whose only full workout was for New Orleans shortly before the Chicago pre-draft camp, still is hoping to work out for three or four more teams (Cleveland, Portland, Phoenix and Milwaukee) before the draft.

“If he’s not able to, he’s not able to,” said Schwartz. “We’ll probably still try for teams to meet with him. He’s such a good kid, comes from such a good family, it’ll help for them to see him and get to know him.”

Schwartz still believes Lamb will be one of the 15 players invited to the green room on draft night, but can’t venture a guess where he’ll be selected.

“I feel good about Jeremy,” Schwartz said. “At New Orleans, they said he was super-competitive in the workout, and way more athletic than they realized he was. To me, that’s what he’ll bring. He can shoot it from anywhere, can get his own shot, he moves well without the ball and he’s more athletic and competitive than was evident at UConn. People questioned that because of UConn’s record and certain games, but he’s saying every day, ‘Jeff I want to get out there, I’m fine.’ I’m saying, ‘No, you’re not fine.’ Sometimes, agents have to protect their clients against themselves.”